Analysis: ODI loss shines light on middle order malaise that Australia must fix before World Cup

A single loss to South Africa is not cause for alarm. But, writes DANIEL CHERNY, there are a long-term concerns in Australia's batting order that could prove costly at the World Cup.

David Warner top-scored with 78 but Australia’s middle order failed to step up in the loss. Picture: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images/Getty Images

That Australia lost for the first time during its South African tour should not in and of itself be a cause for major alarm. The Aussies had already clean swept the Twenty20 series and were 2-0 up in the one-dayers. For all the faults in South African cricket, the Proteas have too much talent not to expect a few of their stars to align once or twice across eight white-ball matches.

And Australia, quite reasonably taking a rotational approach to these games, has enormous upside given the side that lost on Tuesday night in Potchefstroom included just seven of the 15 men in the Aussies’ World Cup squad.

But things are not entirely hunky dory. A couple of middle order mainstays are enduring concerning droughts with the bat.

The first is Marcus Stoinis, who hasn’t passed 25 in any of his 10 most recent one-day internationals, innings where he has batted between No.4 and No.8.

Stoinis was dropped from the Australian ODI squad after an underwhelming 2019 World Cup in which he struggled with injury.

Marcus Stoinis needs to find form with the bat before the World Cup starts. Picture: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images/Getty Images

He returned for the series in England in September 2020 but his most recent ODI half-century is way back in March 2019.

That wouldn’t be an issue if he was routinely chipping in with useful and quick 30s and 40s but he hasn’t really done that either, not since making 44 off 31 at Pallekele in June 2022.

Stoinis is holding his spot for now in considerable part due to his bowling, where he has become a legitimate new-ball threat over the past couple of years. And selectors clearly like the flexibility of stacking the side with all-rounders.

But if Stoinis isn’t making runs, is it really worth leaving out a frontline quick to make room for him as well as Cameron Green?

Curiously Stoinis’ one-day decline has coincided with strong Twenty20 form. He was in January named Australian male player of the year in the game’s shortest format and his partnership with Matthew Wade in Dubai in late 2021 won Australia a World Cup semi-final.

Just last week, Stoinis bashed 37 not out off 21 balls in a T20 at Durban. But the Aussies need him to be able to grind when the situation calls for it, and it’s been a long while since he has done that job effectively in ODIs.

Sean Abbott with a screamer in Australia’s ODI loss last night. #SAvAUSpic.twitter.com/dHh0I1QgWi

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) September 12, 2023

One man who has shown an appetite and aptitude for the graft is Alex Carey. His most memorable one-day knock came in defeat in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, weathering England’s storm to make a defiant 46 while bloodied. It ended a strong tournament with the bat for Carey who has been an important cog in Australia’s one-day side for more than five years, even captaining the team on occasion.

The problem for Carey is less specifically in the one-day arena, where his longer-term numbers are still solid. It’s that scores of three, six and 12 to start this ODI series continue a rut dating back to the middle of the Ashes.

Having started that tour with two half-centuries and a 48 across the World Test Championship and first innings in Birmingham, Carey has now gone 11 innings in international cricket in which his highest score is 28.

It may be too easy to seek correlation with the infamous Lord’s stumping incident, but in any case Carey cannot get going, scratching his way to 12 off 23 in the 111-run loss on Tuesday night before being beaten by a Gerald Coetzee slower ball.

That understudy wicketkeeper Josh Inglis had whacked a half-century at Bloemfontein three days earlier when playing as a specialist batter served as a reminder that while Carey has done well for Australia since becoming the side’s primary gloveman, it’s not as though the selectors don’t have options.

David Warner, though he lived dangerously, continued his strong series with 78, while Travis Head’s aggression alongside him is serving the side well. Mitch Marsh and (when he returns) Steve Smith round out a formidable top four. But if Stoinis and Carey can’t find some touch soon, hard calls may need to be made in the middle.

Originally published as Analysis: ODI loss shines light on middle order malaise that Australia must fix before World Cup